NORTH CAROLINA STATE LIBRARY 

 RALEIGH 



IM. C. 

 Doc. 



MAR 3 1 197/ 



August, 1976 



Trading oysters for beans? 



1235 Burlington Laboratories 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27607 Tel: (919) 737-21*51* 



the question of fresh water 



In the old West, the issue was fences. On the 

 North Carolina coast, it's ditches and "fresh water 

 intrusion." 



Fresh water intrusion is the runoff of fresh 

 water into normally brackish or salty water. The 

 definition is simple but the implications are com- 

 plex. Many of the brackish, estuary waters that 

 receive fresh water such as rain are also the nur- 

 sery grounds for shrimp, oysters, flounder, trout 

 and other commercially important marine life. 

 These creatures can adapt to a wide range of 

 salinities and temperatures, but they all have 

 limits to the amount of fresh water they can stand. 

 And they may be hurt by rapid fluctuations in 

 water's salt content. 



Other factors are involved, but according to a 

 study on brown shrimp done by the North Carolina 

 Division of Marine Fisheries, salinity is a major 

 ingredient for survival in the estuaries. 



Runoff has always occurred along the coast. 

 When it rained, the fresh rainwater eventually 

 found its way to the shore. But in recent years, 

 as corporations have cleared vast acreages for 

 "superfarms" and developers have made room for 

 homes, the face of the coastal area has changed. 

 Mazes of drainage ditches now make more avenues 

 for fresh water to rush to the brackish coastal 

 areas. And fewer swamp forests are present to trap 

 the water and slowly filter it to the shore. 



(See "The Problem," page two) 



